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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2002)
(scUi+uj Q ui £ litaUf Q ui CaiuUf Q ui Quiuuj, Q ui Human Sculpture and the gyrl grip, of which she and Maire are the core members. Maire says the gyrl grip offers a “per formance out let. It gives Lisa and 1, as well as our staff, an opportunity to explore perform ance ixitside of administration, present ing, ttx> much time on the computer.” / Q ui Qaiuuj Q ui C g Ì uuj Q ui Coiuuj I r r o r i A Crf l and Llewyn Máire (left) and Lisa Newman are 2 Gyrlz on a mission | n 2000, Two Girls Review became 2 Gyrlz, LLC, headed by Newman and Máire, who had met at several events and admired each other’s work. “Our visions work well together," they agree while rolling their sleeves to reveal matching 2 Gyrlz tattixis. Maire, who has dedicated the past 10 years to the facilitation of art on a multicultural community level, is featured in a vast expanse of projects— from organizing theater on the streets of New Orleans to underground puppet shows on the West Bank of Minneapolis. Self-taught in the arts of sound, stage light ing and design engineering as well as a lifelong performer, musician and visual artist, Maire brings an abundance of dedication and diversi ty to 2 Gyrlz. Describing hyrself as “a celtic-American- transexual" (insisting on one “s” in the word “transsexual”— “that’s right, there’s a revolu tion going on!"), one of Máire s most interest ing projects has to he hyr alter ego, the'Rev. Rafik Leghara. Described as “the transgender insurrec tionist preacher” for the performative group Temple ov Identity, Máire/Rafik performances are interdisciplinary, merging spoken word with video projection and theater. T he act “encourages a discipline which de/recon- structs identities,” Máire explains. Byrd's-eye view Dinner, Warfare andcocfftaiis Weekend breakfast Ciosed Tuesday evenings 2411 SE Belmont Portland 503.232.4458 n January 2001 a fire consumed the 2 Gyrlz office space, destroying equipment, archives, media and files. All mate rial was lost, and a debt incurred that has yet to he paid off. ' The setback was a difficult one, to say the least, hut was not enough to break the spirit of the organization. “SomefxxJy had just asked me what it would take for me to stop working with the group,” Maire muses. “I told them that the only thing that would stop me would be if everything we had worked on was completely destroyed. I guess I was wrong, because that’s what happened, and we’re still at it.” T he Enteractive Language Festival is a testimony to that dedication— a celebration of diverse forms of art that will establish the discourse necessary to keep those communi ties connected and encouraged to create art that is not hound to the hierarchy of gender, genre or media. Not had for one month. in castagna d /T j r O r / ;d i' * castagna dinner Wednesday through Saturday • 231.7373 café castagna next door to the restaurant dinner tuesday through Sunday • 231.9959 1752 se hawthorne boulevard Contact 2 G yrlz P erformative A rts at 503-318-6860 or info@2gyrlz.org. Visit their Internet home at www.2gyrlz.org. JODI D arby is a Portland graphic artist, uniter and radio producer. Check out fiaye 45 jjM m ote m etaphors for life o most people’s way of thinking, photography and performance art are very, very different. Photographers get to hide behind the camera, performance artists are smack dab in front of it. Photog raphers don’t perform for an audience, they arc the audience. And photographers take pictures of perfonners, not the other way around. Yet queer artist Jeffery Byrd leapt from photography to performance art com pletely naturally. “My photographs had always [been] very theatrical,” he e-mails from University of Northern Iowa, where he teaches photography and performance. “I would stage events for the cameras— mostly male nudes made to hx>k like old master paint ings (drapery, dramatic lighting). Performance seemed like the next logical step.” Bom and raised in Alabama, Byrd received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in his home state, then headed to Florida for a master’s in the same thing before taking the teaching posi- tion in Iowa. This puts him around the country a hit, hut never in Portland until now. In town for 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts’ Enteractive Language Festival, Byrd promises his Nov. 23 show at downtown’s Center Space will he a multimedia pnxiuction utilizing video projections, electronic music and live action. te¿tauteud cim cci 2.020 N . P ortlan d B>1 vd. 5 0 3 . 2 2 3 > P )J- 3 1 GE l R A LD /'S “It is somewhat like a chamber opera,” he explains. “I wear a long gown— not exactly drag since I am hare-chested— and sing in a very high voice.” Although not giving up his camera, Byrd has enjoyed the change in art form from static to movement. “T he image is live and connects with the viewer in a more direct manner,” he states. Byrd’s main focus in his art, he says, “has a lot to do with combining the use of my voice with movement based on the Japanese Butoh style. My work explores the idea of creating metaphors for personal experience." JH — Lisa Bradshaw enaissance Fresh homemade soups daily Organic salads Daily dinner specials Expanded wine selection easy parking just 7 min from N W to NE 34 4 NE 28th & Flanders Mon. - Sat. Open 11am to 10pm 5 0 3 -2 3 6 -8 1 6 5
